Regarding the Impending Rocky Ridge Road Closure

Dear Residents of Rocky Ridge and Royal Oak;

As you may have heard by now City Council has voted to close Rocky Ridge Road. The anticipated closure date continues to move, however currently we have been told that it will close in the spring of 2010. Though unsuccessful in our attempts to keep the road open, through our efforts R3C3 has brought the awareness of this issue to the forefront and all of the concerns that surround the City's plan for our community. We fought long and hard to ensure the safety of the citizens of Rocky Ridge and Royal Oak. Many volunteer hours were spent with our Technical Committee proposing alternative road designs and our Communication Committee lobbying the Provincial Officials, City Officials, the City Aldermen and your Mayor to bring forward a viable solution to this issue that would have been a win win situation for all concerned.

Since February 2009, when meeting with any politician (other than Alderman Gord Lowe), they all sympathized and agreed that the road should remain open for the sake of the community - despite Alderman Hodges signing off on the 2005 plan to close the road. However, they felt that they were not provided with an "engineered stamp of approval" design to keep the road open. Our technical team (who were not "technical civil road engineers") worked very hard to establish viable alternatives by demonstrating design solutions in other parts of the city that could be used for our road alternative. The city/provincial engineers would not consider any other viable alternative based on current design standards and would not come up with their own solution to allow the road to remain open. Not at any point did the city or provincial engineers build a team and work collaboratively together to design an alternative on their own, all they did was "poke holes" through our technical teams designs. There was a design alternative from the 2005 Stoney/Crowchild Trail interchange plan that allowed the road to remain open. However, the expansion of the northwest leg of the LRT to Rocky Ridge required the closure of the road due to changes in design standards. We tried to get the province/city to work with the 2005 plan, however neither level of government was prepared to look at the cost to implement. Many costs were thrown about (from 30 million, 38 million, 40 million and finally $50 million) to keep the road open, however this was not a hurdle that we could over come within this short time frame. Because of our residents phone calls and emails to the Minister of Transportation,Luke Ouellette, Lindsay Blackett convinced the Minister of Transportation to hire an "independent" third party consultant. Within three days, the consultant had reviewed our technical teams designs and concurred that the Stoney/Crowchild Trail intersection is a "super interchange" which has more stringent design standards and consequently Rocky Ridge Road should be closed. The only option to keep the road open would have been to revert back to the 2005 design plan, however this had been deemed cost prohibitive at this time. There are presently only 2 super-interchanges within all of Alberta - one in Edmonton and now one at the Stoney/Crowchild Trail intersection.

To Mr. Hubble of the City's Transportation and Infrastructure Department, we would like to say to you that over 2,000 signatures from our community along with hundreds and hundreds of emails and phone calls to all levels of the political arena does not in anyway suggest support for the road closure - as he stated to council March 28th. In addition, Mayor Bronconnier on countless occasions within council meetings as well in person continued to state that he lives in a community where there is only one entrance into his community. We would like to say that just because your community only has one entrance does not make it right for ours. We are truly disappointed and disgusted in the way that our politicians have chosen not to listen to the people of our community and have instead blamed each other rather than find a win/win solution for all. They know that leaving the road open for as long as they have was wrong. City council has passed building permits to allow a high density area at the bottom of Rocky Ridge Road, they have passed three church building permits and allowed building on either side of Rocky Ridge Road, with no direct access from this intersection. They continued to condone the closure of the road by purchasing additional lands on two separate occasions from the North West Family Church to allow for entrance expansions into the community as well as upgrading the road from a two way to a 4 lane major artery. With this in mind, how can you honestly say that this road should be closed as it has become the major arterial roadway for our community? Alderman Dale Hodges, the Mayor, MLA, Lindsay Blackett and former MLA, Greg Melchin know that to close this road and make the residents and non-residents of this community travel our residential roads is wrong. This closure does not just effect the residents today but forever - from a risk/safety, economic, environmental and time perspective.

After the road closure announcement was made our plan was to have an open house June 18th to advise the community of our efforts, to allow you the citizens to address your politicians and to provide an update for the mitigation measures and safety concerns as a result of the road closure. Unfortunately, the city decided to have their Open House in Tuscany on June 17th and had notified us that they would be unable to directly address the public that day. Consequently, we were not able to make that meeting happen before summer begins, so we will try again in the fall if all parties are willing.

In the meantime as Chair of R3C3, I would like to take this opportunity to thank the committee members for all of their hard work and dedication over the last 3 months. The effort that was put in to raise the awareness in our community in such a short period of time was nothing short of a miraculous. I can't help but think what the outcome would have been if this same passionate and dedicated group of volunteers would have come together 2 years ago to address this issue.

It was a pleasure to have worked with you through this campaign. I am very proud of not only our committee but also the response from the community, which just goes to show you that Rocky Ridge/Royal Oak is the best community in Calgary and a place that I am proud to call home.

Sincerely,

Todd Phillips
Chair Rocky Ridge Road Closure Community Committee (R3C3)

Lauree Phillips
R3C3 Communications Subcommittee

CANCELLATION of Rocky Ridge Road Closure Town Hall Meeting

Due to the information provided to us today that the Calgary Transportation Infrastructure department will be having an Open House informing the community of the road closure to be held in Rocky Ridge June 17th, we have no choice but to cancel the Town Hall Meeting June 18th.

Sincerely,

Todd Phillips, Chairman,
Rocky Ridge Road Closure Community Committee

Council Vote

Council voted today to close Rocky Ridge Road at a 1st reading. 9 to 3 to close. Because of the delay, Council intends to skip the 2nd ready to avoid any further delays and the possibility of loosing funding from the government and go straight to 3rd reading next Monday. Hubbil was quoted as saying that the community now supports the road closure. Mayor Bronconier advised that this has dragged on long enough and besides his community only has 1 entrance. He also congratulated Alderman Hodges for all his hard work since 2006. Thanks,

Todd Phillips
R3C3 Chair

Town Hall Meeting/Open House to Explain Why Rocky Ridge Road is Closing and to Address Community Traffic Mitigation Measures

The R3C3 Technical Subcommittee met with the Deputy Minister of Transportation (Government of Alberta), General Manager, Transportation (City of Calgary) and their staff on May 9, 2009. Also in attendance was a consultant engaged by the Government of Alberta to review options that would render the full and permanent closure of the Crowchild Trail/Rocky Ridge Road intersection unnecessary.

Unfortunately at that meeting a technically and financially viable option was not produced to keep the Rocky Ridge Road/Crowchild Trail intersection open. A tentative date of August 1, 2009 has now been set for the proposed road closure.

The proposed closure is on the agenda for a meeting of the Calgary City Council on May 11, 2009 and has been deferred again until May 25th so that mitigation measures can be addressed.

The R3C3 committee will be organizing a Town Hall Meeting/Open House in June with our elected officials, the independent consultant and provincial/municipal engineers to explain to residents "Why Rocky Ridge Road is Closing" and to address Community Traffic Mitigation Measures.

Todd Phillips
Chairman
R3C3

How Did You Get to Royal Oak Victory Church This Morning?

You took one of four routes:
1. Crowchild Trail through Rocky Ridge Road Intersection Direct:

• 1.5 mins. Less than half a kilometer
  
  

2. Crowchid Trail to 12 Mile Coulee to Rocky Valley Drive to Rocky Ridge Blvd:

• 28 Driveways, Potential School Zone & Baseball Field, School Bus Stops, Bus Stops, Community Center & Playground, Soccer Field
  
• 5 minutes 50 sec (6 mins) – 5 kms
  

3. Stoney Trail to Country Hills to Royal Birch Blvd to Royal Oak Drive:

• 3 stop lights, Potential School Zone, Baseball Fields, Soccer Fields, 30 km/hr Playground Zone
  
• 7 minutes, approx. 7 kms
  

4. City of Calgary’s Proposed Route:
Stoney Trail to Country Hills to Rocky Ridge Road to Royal Oak Drive:

• 5 stop lights (one will be at Rocky Ridge Road / Country Hills Blvd) (Stopped for two lights...)
  
• 9.5 minutes, 7.5 kms
  

-- Lauree Phillips - R3C3 Communications Subcommittee

We Must Send Our Message By Phone As Well

Dear Residents of Rocky Ridge and Royal Oak,

Thank you so much, to those of you that have done so, for sending your emails to Minister's Oulette's office and copying the various politicians. Hundreds of emails have bombarded their offices and they have taken notice of our issue. Usually for even a well publicized issue they only receive a few emails, however they now know this community is well-organized, standing together and strong and will oppose this closure until we receive some resolution. We are probably now at the most critical stage of the campaign and it is now imperative that we maintain the momentum and in fact step up the campaign. We now need to communicate the same message to them through a phone call campaign. This phone call should take at most 5 minutes.... Due to timing of provincial meetings on this issue, we need this message to be heard Monday (4 May), preferably in the morning.

The most effective approach for us will be to call Mr. Ouellette's office and for the community to voice their concern regarding this proposed closure. You can dial directly to 780-427-2080 or if you prefer, you can dial the toll free phone number 403-310-0000 after which, at the appropriate prompt, you can connect to the Minister of Transportation’s office by dialing 780-427-2080.
Because we are looking for consistency and a respectful tone of the message, we are asking that you state the following:

1. Opposition to the road closure for your own reasons;

2. You, representing your community, are asking Minister Ouellette to help us by directing his senior officials to engage the City of Calgary's Transportation engineers to bring forward a viable, cost effective solution that will permit the intersection to remain open. It is important to stress that we are not asking for a complete review of the design of the interchange. We just want all parties to act in good faith and give an honest attempt to find a win/win solution for the community, the City of Calgary, and the Province of Alberta.

Thank you so much everyone,

Sincerely,
Todd Phillips
Chairman
Rocky Ridge Road Closure Community Committee (R3C3)

Our Message Must Be Heard!

Dear Residents of Rocky Ridge and Royal Oak,

After having two postponements of the closure of Rocky Ridge Road from City Council, meetings with the Mayor, various aldermen, Dale Hodges, and our MLA, Lindsay Blackett, we will be coming to the final decision to close the road May 11th, 2009.

If you feel passionate about this closure and realize the impact it will have on this community from risk/safety, economic and environmental cost perspective today and for the future, we are requesting that the community voice be heard once again. Your voice must be heard.

Please complete the attached letter (see: lines in red) and please forward the attachment only to Mr. Luke Ouellette. If you have time, it is important that you personalize it and tell your politicians why you believe they should keep this road open. We have provided you with the top ten reasons that we presented to the politicians that you can use if you wish.

Please address your email To:

• Mr. Luke Ouellette, Minister of Transportation
  innisfail.sylvanlake@assembly.ab.ca
  transportation.minister@gov.ab.ca

Please copy your email to the following:

• Ed Stelmach, Premier of Alberta
  fortsaskatchewan.vegreville@assembly.ab.ca
  
  
• Lindsay Blackett, MLA Calgary NorthWest
  Calgary.Northwest@assembly.ab.ca
  
  
• Dave Bronconnier, Mayor of Calgary
  themayor@calgary.ca
  
  
• Alderman Dale Hodges
  dale.hodges@calgary.ca
  
  
• Rocky Ridge Road Closure Community Committee
  r3c3-letters@googlegroups.com
  

Thank you for your prompt attention.

Sincerely,

-- Rocky Ridge Road Closure Community Committee (R3C3)

[ Attached letter ]
In ms word format: LettertoLukeOuellette,MinisterTransportation.docx
In rich text format: LettertoLukeOuellette,MinisterTransportation.rtf

[ Please also see ]
Top Reasons To Keep Rocky Ridge Road Open